A South Carolina man was sentenced to life in prison for raping and impregnating a 10-year-old girl.
Tony Orlanda Singleton, 37, was found guilty Wednesday of first-degree criminal sexual assault of a minor under the age of 11. A judge sentenced him to life in prison, a sentence the jury recommended after deliberating for one hour.
In April 2016, the victim's father went to Estill Police after the girl's mother told him they were going to another state to terminate the girl's pregnancy, WJCL-TV reported.
Shortly thereafter, the girl told a forensic examiner that Singleton, a friend of her mother, had raped her.
The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division analyzed a DNA sample from the fetus and determined Singleton was the father, WTOC-TV reported.
"This girl should be getting ready to go back to school, making friends, braiding her hair – things other girls her age typically are engaged in," said prosecutor Hunter Swanson of the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office. "Instead, she's in a courtroom, reliving a horrific ordeal. Tony Singleton is to blame for that. This man was someone she trusted, someone who lurked inside her home, someone who changed the fabric of his victim's life forever."
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